‘Work together
for our town’

Published:14:41Tuesday 31 May 2011

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TEAMWORK could be the answer to solving some of the pressing issues in the town, according to a Brighouse councillor.

Councillor Colin Stout (Ind) wants to call a meeting with all the councillors throughout the Lower Valley, including Elland, so they prioritise certain issues and decide how they can be solved by working together.

“I want to review all the major areas of concern in Brighouse and the surrounding areas that we need to protect with these savage cuts we are having to make over the next three years and improve the services we have got,” he said.

“And if we can work together in the Lower Valley and possibly have a joint meeting so we can prioritise what we need to be pushing forward because at the end of the day we will have a bigger voice as a unit.

“I think another thing we need to be doing now and I will be proposing, that Brighouse becomes a parish or town council. I will be asking other local councillors from the Upper Valley to come and tell us about the benefits of being a parish council so Brighouse can have a better say on how things are being run and also provide things the borough council cannot provide.

“This is one of my top priorities to try to get a town council back for Brighouse and if Brighouse people are in favour of that they shouldn’t be any reason why that shouldn’t go ahead.

“Hopefully we will be able to move forward as a team both in Brighouse and the Lower Valley rather than doing it on political lines.”

One of Coun Stout’s other main priorities is to have another look at providing toilets near to Brighouse bus station to see if funding can be made available.

“The toilets are owned by the council and I feel we need to review the costs of getting the toilets back in the bus station so people visiting Brighouse when they get off a bus can spend a penny or two,” he said.

“There are several projects I would like to see us focusing on together as ward councillors in Brighouse to push forward and if we can speak as ward councillors rather than party councillors I think we could go a long way to make sure that we are getting the project that Brighouse needs to go forward.”